Steve Sarkisian named USC head coach

Sarkisian is a former USC assistant under Pete Carroll and has been at Washington for five seasons.

He'll be the permanent replacement for Lane Kiffin, who was fired after five games this season and replaced on an interim basis by Ed Orgeron. The Trojans went 6-2 under Orgeron.

Kiffin and Sarkisian are friends and at one time were co-offensive coordinators for Carroll during the late stages of USC's dominant run during the 2000s.

Sarkisian was 34-29 at Washington in five seasons after inheriting a program coming off the first 0-12 record in school history under coach Tyrone Willingham.

After going 5-7 in his first season, Sarkisian took the Huskies to a bowl game each of the next four seasons, but they were stuck on seven wins for three years.

The Huskies finished this regular season 8-4, with a victory over Washington State in last Friday's Apple Cup.

Sarkisian arrived in Seattle trumpeting that he would help Washington return to the elite of the Pac-12. The Huskies at least got back to respectability, but their attempts at finally joining the upper echelon of the conference this season were turned back in losses to Stanford, Oregon and Arizona State. He never defeated the Ducks in his tenure, an issue that stuck with Washington fans tired of getting beaten up by their neighbors to the south.

Sarkisian is the first Washington coach to voluntarily leave for another position since Darrell Royal in 1956 when he departed for Texas. Royal was at Washington for one season.